Native Americans in Arizona

Whenever I'm not in a meeting or researching for the department, I'm updating the Native Americans in Arizona database. As discussed earlier, the big green binder is not used much but when it is is very helpful. The first assignment with the binder was preparing a document for the Mayor by using the Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation's section. Being Navajo, I was interested and started looking through the binder noticing that the Navajo Nation was not included and it was out of date. Not many tribes have an up to date website and using ITCA's (Inter Tribal Council of Arizona) information isn't much help either. I found it rather difficult to update the information without calling the tribe itself and request what I needed. Making a long distance call is hardly ever used in the department because we are charged for every minute. Since the budget is consistently cut every year, the department needs to watch where it makes unnecessary expenditures. So with the information I already had and what I could find, I rewrote almost all of it but upset that I couldn't complete the binder. I had a lot of fun learning about the 22 tribes in Arizona, never knowing the smaller ones and understanding the larger ones from the governmental side.

Federal Lobbying

I haven't posted in two weeks so now I'll catch up. Tom asked me to sit in on a conference call with one of our federal lobbyist teams, McBee Strategic. Some larger metropolitan cities are able to keep an office in Washington D.C. to conduct their own lobbying but Phoenix does not. We have two teams lobbying for issues concerning Phoenix like: Infrastructure, Aviation, Transportation, Water, and Environmental. The City hires lobbyists depending of their specialty and as we need specific or more general concerns addressed.

The conference call lasted about an hour where we simply went over the latest issues that happened since the previous call. A new technology is being used by the City called Sharepoint, that allows for people to have meetings across the country without actual meeting in person. We can make instant changes to documents on Sharepoint, view presentations, schedule future meetings through calendar, and view past notes on meetings. What I like about Sharepoint is that we are able to all see the same page and not be confused about what is being discussed.

One topic that I found interesting in the meeting was the Brownfields. At the time I did not know what they were and researched the topic. The Brownfields is a term used to describe real estate that is contaminated or perceived to be contaminated by hazardous substances or petroleum in soil or groundwater. The complexity and cost of cleanup creates an obstacle to redevelopment or reuse of the property. The cleanup and redevelopment of the Brownfields bring many economic development benefits to a community. The benefits of redevelopment include: job creation, increase of property values, reduction of potential health risks, and revitalization of neighborhoods.

To learn more about the Brownfields look here:
http://phoenix.gov/greenphoenix/land/brownfields/index.html

What is the RWC?

The Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) is an independent, multi-jurisdictional organization which manages and operates a regional radio communications network built to seamlessly serve the interoperable communication needs of first responders and other municipal radio users in and around Central Arizona's Valley of the Sun. Formerly known as the Phoenix Regional Wireless Network, the RWC has expanded to service a still growing list of 18 cities, towns, and fire districts, along with many other area entities who serve public safety needs. The RWC was formed through a governance structure founded on the principle of cooperation for the mutual benefit of all members. The RWC was placed within the Government Relations department due to the importance of its mission. The staff is small and comprised of four people who work towards improving public safety radio communications in the Valley. 

My first task!

My first day was an eventful one! I had intentions of learning more about how tribes work with other governments and organizations, like Phoenix, but didn't expect it to happen this fast.

Before I start, I wanted to mention my blog posts. Since this is fall semester and my internship was this past summer, I may refer back to the day as if it happened today. I kept a detailed journal and use it to write my blog.

When I first came into the office most of the staff was not in yet so I learned how to open my email and login to the system. Every morning, the department comes in and reads daily publications and periodicals to learn about what is happening in the political world. I read a few articles John Wayne thought would be beneficial to the issues I would learn about. They also answer correspondence and go over what happened the day before. Karen must submit at the end of the week a "weekly" report to David Cavazos about what happened during the week. It includes bill tracking and issue reporting relating to the city on the local, state, and federal level. We also have within our department the RWC or Regional Wireless Cooperative. I'll discuss the RWC in another post. Following an introduction into the department and taking a tour, I was given my first task.

The department has a thick binder about the Native American Communities in Arizona. It includes maps of all the tribes, election dates, leadership positions, and any information relating to the tribe. If a tribe has a Constitution or other relevant document, it is also included in the binder. The binder has not been updated in a while and needed to be. I worked on this binder throughout my internship and still left a few sections needing to be updated.

The first tribe I updated in the binder was Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation. President Pattea was coming to meet Mayor Stanton the next day, and Stanton wanted to learn more about Ft. McDowell and the President. I researched Ft. McDowell and rewrote the section so it could be included in the daily packet that Stanton reads to be prepared for his next day's meetings. Since being in his position, Stanton has met with businesses, governments/organizations, and tribal communities to become acquainted with their work. Meeting with tribal community heads is an area he finds important. After submitting my research, John Wayne informed me that I would be sitting in on the meeting between Stanton and Pattea. The meeting was very informational and I was honored to be there to see how the city works with tribal governments, like Ft. McDowell. Due to sensitivity and confidentiality of the information, I cannot discuss what was said during the meeting.

Where I'll be during the summer months

The City of Phoenix is Arizona's capital and the sixth largest city in the United States. With over 15,000 employees, the city takes care of more than 1.4 million residents by various departments and services funded from the budget. In 1913, Phoenix turned to a council-manager form of government.

This is a link to a pdf file that will show the organizational chart for the City of Phoenix:
http://phoenix.gov/citygovernment/facts/facts/index.html

As you can see the Public is highest in the organizational chart because the Mayor, City Council, and underlying positions and departments make decisions based from and for the public. The chief administrator who operates the city on a daily basis is the City Manager; he has several managers that help in the process. Since Phoenix is undergoing management change due to two retirements, there are interim and newly placed managers.

The Government Relations department falls within the responsibilities of Karen Peters, who is the Senior Executive Assistant. She is also the director of the Government Relations department. This is where I interned for the summer and was able to see how the city interacts with the federal government, the state of Arizona, other cities and towns, tribal communities, Maricopa County, and various agencies and organizations. At the same time, the department provides grant coordination to organizations within the city.

Staff within the Government Relations department are:
Karen Peters - She is a former lawyer who has many years of experience in water law, and once was a partner at a successful law firm in Phoenix. With the help of others in the department, she is able to stay updated on all government actions that affect Phoenix and present them to the City Manager, Mayor, and Council.
Thomas Remes - He works mostly on federal issues affecting Phoenix, especially interacts with the lobbyists that we use in Washington D.C. Focus areas for our federal lobbying are: transportation, infrastructure, water, and environmental.
John Wayne Gonzales - He is the main person I worked with because he oversees the interns. John Wayne is the Intergovernmental Liaison (or lobbyist) for the department and during session spends most of his time at the State Capitol. Working mainly with state and tribal communities, John Wayne has over 11 years of experience with the department. He also oversees the tribal gaming revenue sharing that the city receives from the various tribes that have casinos.
Kathya Hidalgo - David Cavazos, City Manager, believed Phoenix could work more on finding grant funding so he had our department hire someone specifically to work on grants. Kathya is the lady who has this responsibility.
James Orlowski - James is our administrative guy who works a lot on our department budget. This summer I took Budget and Finance, and he helped explain how the budget works for our department which was tremendously beneficial. He also conducts research for the department as needed. Other than that I'm not too sure what he does since I did not work with him or Kathya as much.
Terrie Wimberly - One of the sweetest lady's I have ever met, she is Karen's assistant and office administrator to our department. From the beginning of my internship, she has helped in any way possible whether it was setting up my email or making sure my badge worked properly.

Before we get started

Hello!

My name is Jacqueline. I'm pursuing an MPA with a concentration in Urban Management, and will finish this upcoming May. I'm one of the few people in Phoenix, AZ to say they were born and raised here. Most of the people I meet are from other places who moved to Arizona for the dry predictable weather. It's what I love about Arizona; how we have all sorts of people and backgrounds. I have two dogs, Missy (a Pug) and Stan (a Shih Tzu), they are the oddest pair since Missy is 16 and Stan is 1. Outside of school I like to watch tv and movies but I also bartend and serve at a restaurant, so most of my time is devoted to studies and work. Favorite movies include: Steel Magnolias, Dazed and Confused, Groundhog Day, 25th Hour, The Departed. Favorite tv shows are: Suits, True Blood, Grey's Anatomy, Sons of Anarchy, Friends. My favorite basketball and baseball team are the Boston teams (Celtics and Red Sox). I'm a Sun Devil fan for life, which is hard on half my family who are Wildcat fans. With all my life experiences, I hope to find a job that keeps me happy but try to be realistic. Currently, I would like to pursue a position with a tribal or local government in intergovernmental relations/affairs and policy/legislative analysis. After interning this summer, my decision became more firm of working in the public sector.

Thanks for reading and I hope to show insight into my internship with the Government Relations department at the City of Phoenix!